Finger-guard for meat-choppers.



P. GANZHORN.

FINGER GUARD FOR MEAT CHOPPERS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 27, 1913.

Patented July 8, 1913.

Quanta PHILIP GANZHQRN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

FINGER-GUARD FOR MEAT-CHOPPERS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 8, 1913.

Application filed March 27, 1913. Serial No. 757,226.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, PHILIP GANzHonN, acitizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cookand State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Finger-Guards for Meat-Choppers, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to a novel construc tion in a hopper or feed spoutfor meat chopping machines and the like, and has for its object toprovide a device of this charactor in which means are provided forpreventing the fingers of the operator from being caught between thewalls of the barrel and the peripheral edge of the helix for forcing themeat to be chopped through the barrel.

The invention consists in the features of construction and combinationsof parts hereinafter fully described and claimed.

The accompanying drawing is a partial sectional view of a meat chopperhaving a feed hopper provided with a finger guard constructed inaccordance with my invention.

In the operation of meat choppers in ,meat markets, sausage factoriesand the like, the operator is usually forced to press the meat to bechopped into the barrel and into engaging relation to the screw shaft orhelix which conveys the same forcibly through the barrel toward thecutting means. Owing to the resistance offered at the delivery end ofthe barrel by the perforated plate through which the meat must be forcedit is not infrequent that the smaller pieces back up toward the inletend of the barrel so that in order to prevent such return movement theoperator is obliged to exert a pressure upon the contents of the feedhopper. In so doing it not infrequently happens that the operatorinserts his fingers so far into the feed hopper as to thrust them intothe barrel and they are then liable to be caught between the helix orscrew shaft and the corner at which the barrel connects with the hopperwith the result that such fingers are mashed and frequently cut off. H

To obviate this difficulty and prevent such accidents is the object ofthe present invention and is eflected by providing within the hopper Aand on the wall thereof which connects with the barrel B between theends, as indicated at C, a V-shaped projection or hump D which serves tocontract the discharge end portion of the hopper A and prevent thefinger of the operator from being thrust into the barrel at a pointwhere the same may be caught between the first convolution of the helixor screw shaft E and the corner F formed by the juncture of the wall Cof the hopper with the barrel B. The said hump D is preferably formed bycasting the hopper with the hump thereof. It will be noticed that thehump is spaced above the periphery of the screw, forming a recess G ofsufficient size to receive the ends of the fingers of the operator, thecorner or edge 1 being thus set back or in such a distance that thefingers cannot project in far enough to be caught be tween said cornerand the convolution of the screw. If by any circumstance the hand isinserted to contact with the screw, it will simply cause the lingers tobend naturally up and back into the recess G, at the first joint of thefingers. The recess is so shaped and disposed with respect to the threadof the screwthat it will accommodate the ends of the fingers, andalthough the fingers may be drawn in by the screw they will not becaught that will simply be pressed back into the recess which is ofsufficient size to prevent any pinching or mashing, and so it will bepractically impossible for an operator to get his fingers in far enoughto be caught between the screw and the corner F of the barrel.

In machines of this type the meat is cut by knives H working against aperforated plate I held by a clamping ring J at the end of the machine,and the plate is prevented from turning by a pin K which fits in a notchin the edge of the plate and sets in a hole in the end of the barrel. Itis custolnary to wedge this pin in, but I hold it cess extendinginwardly under the hump to the point at which the screw enters the boreof the barrel.

2. In a meat cutting machine, the combination of a barrel and a screwrotating therein, of a hopper leading to the barrel, In testimonywhereof, I aflix my signathe hopper having the hump D on the side turein presence of two witnesses. thereof toward the entrance end of thebar- 7 PHILIP GANZHORN.

rel, the hump being spaced above the screw and forming a recess Gthereunder extend- Witnesses:

ing to the corner F at which material will EDITH L. SMITH,

be engaged between the barrel and the screw. GEO. E. TEW.

